Don't Leave Him Alone
by Debi C1
Summary: This is a Little Daniel story.  Mitchell and Carter do not take proper care and it happens.
1. Chapter 1

Daniel was late for check in. Samantha Carter glanced at her watch and looked over at the temple where they'd left him. Now that, in itself, was not surprising and she did have to say it'd gotten more and more common since the General left the SGC. She and Daniel had always had an easy relationship, even when she had been nominally in charge of SG1. Okay, maybe he didn't do everything exactly the way she had preferred, but he had done basically what she had told him to do. He just had a tendency to add a few Jacksonian flourishes.

Now that Mitchell was the team leader, well, Daniel had started adding a lot of flourishes…and curlicues, and well, sometimes he just did what he wanted to. If he had been a different sort of person, she might have thought that he took advantage of the Mitchell's inexperience and hero worship. Daniel had started doing his own thing. If there was an unusual writing or a new temple, he could easily talk their new 'leader' into staying that extra few hours or even a day or two. She and Teal'c didn't mind really. It gave them more time to do their own investigations. Nonetheless, she had a feeling that sooner or later it would bite them, or him, in the proverbial ass.

She also knew that Colonel, O'Neill would never have stood for it. He always just seemed to know when Daniel was pushing the envelope and how to successfully rein him in, but not Mitchell. Cam had yet to develop a sense of impending doom when it came to their archaeologist whereas O'Neill had it in spades.

Sam had to admit it was a beautiful day on a nice planet. She was doing the ever-popular soil samples and Teal'c was checking out the area for defensive possibilities. Then her radio crackled to life.

"Sam?" It was definitely Daniel's voice, but it sounded odd.

"Daniel, what's wrong?"

"Sam, can you come here please?"

"Daniel, are you okay?"

"No," his voice had an odd quaver in it and it sounded wrong to her ears.

"Daniel, are you injured?"

"No." His voice was definitely off. And it sounded like a sob at the end.

"Where are you?" Teal'c came up beside her and she could see Cameron striding towards them.

"In the temple."

"What's up?" Cam asked breathlessly as he stopped beside them.

"I don't know, but there's something wrong with Daniel." She answered as they took off together at a jog, headed towards the temple and their missing teammate.

They reached the temple and took their P-90s in hand. There was never an easy way to tell what they were going to discover once they got in there and it was a lot easier to drop guns than find them while dodging weapons fire. As they entered the dim interior of the ancient stone building the temperature began to cool. The dirt and dust of the ages was on the floor and the ceiling was festooned with spider webs. They had to go back several hundred feet to get to the area where Daniel had last been working.

As they approached the altar area, they saw where he'd been working. His tools were still laid out in his precise manner, and there were marks in the dust where he'd been kneeling, but there was no sign of Daniel. Carter reached to her shoulder and clicked the radio on. "Daniel. We're in the temple. Where are you?"

"I don't know." There's an odd waiver to his voice now, and it definitely sounded unusual.

Cam activated his mike. "Jackson, can you describe your surroundings?"

"I'm still inside the temple, but I'm in a back room behind the altar area." He paused. "I'm cold."

Cam shot his two team mates a questioning look. Teal'c only shrugged and took point as they entered the opening that led to the rear area of the building.

"Does anything here look familiar to you Teal'c?" Cam asked.

"Indeed, it looks a great deal like many other centers of religious worship that Danieljackson has investigated."

Mitchell gave the Jaffa a frustrated look behind his back. "No, I mean, does this look like a temple to a Goa'uld or something."

"Or something." Teal'c deadpanned.

Mitchell looked at Carter and she shook her head and whispered back, "Give it up, you won't win. He was taught by the best."

"Jackson?"

"O'Neill."

Teal'c turned and looked at them with a smirk. "Braytac."

They rounded a corner and found the temple opened up into yet another huge room. But this one had something of interest. In front of a second smaller altar, there lying on the floor, were Daniel's boots, fatigue jacket and his trousers.

The three of them hurried forward and looked around the room. Mitchell bent down and picked up the pants. He looked back to the other two members of his team. "Jackson! Can you hear us?" He shouted. "Jackson!"

Teal'c stood still for a moment then began to walk towards a darkened area behind the stone table. "Danieljackson, I hear you. Can you come out?"

"No," the strange little voice replied. "I'm afraid." The voice was low, tremulous and…young.

Teal'c knelt down on the cold stone. "Are you afraid of me, Danieljackson?"

"N.," came the soft reply. "Not of you…"

"Then come out," Teal'c coaxed, "so that we may help you."

Then, slowly, a small figure came out from behind the altar, a small boy with longish blond hair and wearing a pair of too large wire framed glasses. An overlong tan tee shirt hung down to his knees as he shuffled out of the darkness. The child walked slowly out of the shadows, scuffing his bare feet across the flagstone floor. His feet and legs were bare to the cold. Teal'c opened his arms and the boy went straight into them.

"I'm cold," he whispered. "Teal'c, I'm cold."

The big man only nodded and rose to his feet, carrying the small child with him. "You are indeed chilled, Danieljackson. How long have you been like this?"

"I don't know," the plaintive little voice answered him. "I was working at the altar, transcribing some script, when a bright light flashed. I must have lost consciousness then."

Mitchell looked dumbfounded at his miniature teammate, and he shifted his gaze to Teal'c. "How did you know it was him?"

The big man glanced down at Daniel who was resting confidently in Teal'c's arms before he answered him. "His identity is quite evident and this is not without precedent."

"You mean he's done this before?"

"No, it was O'Neill that was apparently…downsized," Teal'c answered carefully, using a word that was obviously one he'd picked up on Earth.

"He was?"

"Well, we thought he was," Carter began to explain "But it was actually a clone that the Asgard scientist Loki had created…"

"Oh, yeah, right." Cam nodded eagerly. "I remember reading the report now." He looked suspiciously at the munchkin in Teal'c's arms. "Which brings me back to my point. How can we be sure that this," he indicated the child, "is OUR Jackson?"

"He has a valid concern." Carter nodded at Teal'c. "He could be a plant."

Teal'c frowned at Carter then at the boy. "He does not appear to be a plant."

"No, Teal'c," Mitchell tried to explain, "Not a plant plant. A fake, a red herring."

"Ah, something that draws attention away from the central issue, such as a fish dragged across a scent trail." Teal'c looked at his team chief. "No, I do not believe so. What I do believe is that this is Danieljackson and he has been subjected to the influence of an alien device." He glanced at the small child cuddling in his arms. "It has happened before."

Mitchell looked to Carter for support. She could only shrug. "It has happened before."

"THIS?"

"Well, no…not this exactly," she admitted. "But other things have." She looked at the small boy firmly ensconced in the strong arms of his protector. Sam turned to Cam. "We need to get him back to the SGC."

"Why?" Mitchell looked at his team in amazement. "It happened here. The cure is here."

"We don't know what happened," she said firmly. "All we know is that Daniel is…small. We need to find out what caused it and all those venues are at the SGC."

Cam stared first at Sam, then at Daniel in Teal'c's arms. Finally he then threw up his hands as if asking some omnipotent being. "WHY?"

"BECAUSE!" She was growing frustrated with the whole situation. Daniel was shrunk, Teal'c was glaring and Cam was being an ass. Carter took a deep breath before resuming. "We need to get back to the SGC so we can find out why…now."

Daniel started to cry. He looked as shocked over the whole idea that he was crying as everyone else obviously felt. Teal'c just cuddled him closer and murmured softly in his ear. "Do not fear, Danieljackson. I will protect you."

The child tucked his head under Teal'c's chin and stuck a finger in his mouth. "I know. But…"

"But what?" Teal'c asked him softly.

"I don't want to be like this," the baby voice replied. "I wanna be big again."

The big man nodded. "I can well understand that, my friend. We must return home with you to insure your safety.

"Will you make me big again?"

"Indeed, Danieljackson, we shall try."

SG1 came out of the wormhole and down the ramp into the gate room. General Landry entered through the blast doors. When he saw Teal'c carrying his small burden he stopped in confusion. "Who is this and where's Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel looked at him from his safe haven. "I'm Doctor Jackson."

Landry looked from the boy to the Jaffa and then to his two Lieutenant Colonels. "What?"

Carter nodded at his amazed expression. Mitchell shrugged. "Evidently, sir, that IS Doctor Jackson. We found him in the temple on the planet wearing Jackson's tee shirt and glasses."

Sam spoke up. "He was in a back room behind the main temple complex. Perhaps he interacted with some sort of alien technology

"Are you sure he's Doctor Jackson?" The General looked confused.

"That was my question, sir," Mitchell frowned. "But everyone else seems to think so."

"Harrumph, well…" he looked again at the small child in Teal'c's arms. He did know that the warrior was difficult to fool and he wasn't about to disbelieve anything that happened in this room. Landry looked up at Harriman. "Call Medical and…" Doctor Lam entered the gate room with med kit in hand. The general waved at his chief. "Never mind."

The young doctor approached the small knot of people standing in the center of the room. "What's going on?" And who's this?" then asked with a smile directed at the small child.

"I'm Daniel, Doctor Lam," the small child piped up. "Do you know how to make me big again?"

"Oh, oh, uh…" the petite doctor looked taken aback. She glanced at Teal'c, "Is that…true?" He nodded.

"As far as we can tell Doctor, it is," Carter spoke up. "We found him like this in the precincts of a temple on P24X10. Daniel had been working in the altar room and he failed to check in. Then he called in over the radio and we found him like this."

"It is not without precedent, Doctorlam," Teal'c intoned softly. "We have had several different occurrences that resemble this one. It is quite possible that this child is Danieljackson."

Carolyn looked at the small boy and nodded. "That's true. Let's get him to the infirmary so that I can check him out."

"But I'm not sick!" the boy objected as they headed towards the clinic. "I'm just shrunk!"

She turned to her patient. "That's very true; however, you know that we always check you over when you get back…just to make sure that you're all right."

He sighed and leaned back against the broad chest for support. "Oh, okay." He blinked tiredly at her. "But I'm not sick."

Teal'c nodded at her and headed out of the gate room trailed by Mitchell and Carter. Carolyn looked back at the General. "First, try to determine if he IS Doctor Jackson," he instructed. "Then see what you can do about, er, resizing him."

She looked at him in amazement. "Resizing him?"

"Yeah, let's see if that expensive medical school I paid for did any good."

She looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks."

Several hours later, Carolyn Lam was stumped. All her tests showed that this small boy was indeed the inestimable Doctor Daniel Jackson of the multiple PhDs and the man who opened the Stargate. This said, the small boy was sleeping the sleep of the exhausted innocent that he appeared to be.

She'd run off all the cooing nurses and concerned teammates she could manage. Only Teal'c remained stationed at his bedside, immovable in his manner. Carolyn wasn't exactly scared of the Jaffa warrior, but then she didn't want to fly into the face of such overwhelming loyalty either. And obviously the boy needed the steadying presence of his friend. All she could do at this point was leave them alone for now and report her findings to the general.

Carolyn entered the general's office by tapping on the doorframe. Landry looked up from his desk. "Well?"

She came over to the desk and leaned over it. "It's him," she said bluntly. "It's Daniel. His DNA, everything checks out."

"But how can it be?" Landry leaned back and threw his pen down on the papers spread across his work area. "How can a forty year old man be reduced to a child in a matter of minutes?"

"Well," she said with a smile, "I'd say it took more like an hour from all reports." She hitched her hip up onto the corner of his desk. "So what do we do with him now? I really have no medical reason to keep a six year old little boy prisoner in my clinic."

Her father looked at her and sighed. "Well, I guess the next step is to call his next of kin." He looked at her curiously. "He does have one, right? Who is his next of kin anyway?"

Carolyn smiled at him humorlessly. "Oh yeah, he's got one all right. Major General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill. He's stationed in Washington DC. Do you want to make the call, or should I?"

Hank Landry buried his head in his hands. "Crap!"


	2. Chapter 2

Major General Jack O'Neill, head of Homeworld Security, and hero at large, was pissed. He wasn't pissed at being called at 0800 in the morning, he wasn't pissed at being called back to Colorado, and he wasn't even pissed at being brought back to visit with the SGC. It was the reason for all of the above.

Daniel Jackson was injured in some way. Hurt badly enough for the Command's CMO to contact him as Daniel's next of kin for a decision based on extreme need. This meant that Daniel couldn't make a decision involving his own welfare. And that meant to him coma, unconsciousness or crippling illness.

Hadn't he suffered enough? Hadn't the smartest and bravest man on the whole fucking planet done enough? Why didn't the universe just leave him the hell alone? All the guy wanted was to go to Atlantis and study his little heart out over Ancient stuff. Admittedly, that wasn't particularly safe from the reports they were beginning to get back from Weir and Shepard, but at least his friend would be happy while he was stuck in Washington DC. It just wasn't fair.

Jack entered Cheyenne Mountain at a fast walk flipping his ID card at the sentry on duty. He nodded to the few familiar faces that were left and strode to the main elevator. Hitting the down button to the 'final' NORAD level, he disembarked the car and headed to the rear of the corridor. Once there he cleared an additional sentry point and got into another elevator. Here he hit the button for level twenty-seven, the Command level of the SGC.

He strode down the familiar hallways and into the front office area of Major General Landry.

Jack stood at the head of the general's briefing table. His gaze swept around the gathered group of General Landry, Doctor Lam, and three quarters of SG1. "So," he paused for effect, "What happened?

Landry nodded at Mitchell. "Well, uh, sir. Jackson, Doctor Jackson was all excited about this temple that we'd found on the planet. So he wanted to go in and take pictures and rubbings and stuff. We did a quick recon inside and there was nobody home so we left him to it. Colonel Carter started gathering her samples, Teal'c and I secured the perimeter." He shrugged. "Situation normal."

O'Neill glared at him then looked at Carter. "Carter?"

"Sir?"

"Is that what happened?"

"Well, sir, of course there was more to it than that." She continued at his nod. "Daniel wanted to record his findings. The temple was deserted and there was no sign of any one having been there in a long time."

"So, you found this temple, checked it out, and then left him alone." He raised an eyebrow at his old 2IC. "Carter, what possessed you to do that?" The fair skinned blonde turned a fiery red.

Landry and Mitchell exchanged glances. The general pursed his lips. "I don't understand."

"When O'Neill was our team leader, Danieljackson was never left alone when he was performing his duties," Teal'c replied.

Landry looked at Jack in surprise. "Oh? Why?"

"Daniel seems to attract the wrong king of attention," Carter answered succinctly.

"Daniel is a shit magnet." O'Neill replied with a sigh. "We learned it the hard way."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean that Daniel attracts bad things." Jack frowned in his direction. "And because of who and what he is to the SGC, he's never left alone off planet." He switched his glare to Carter and Mitchell. "That's why. And Carter knows it."

"Sir," Mitchell spoke, "it was my decision…"

"Yes, I gathered that." He cut his eyes to the younger man. "I just don't understand why you made that decision."

"Sir, Jackson is a 40 year old adult and he's spent more time in the field than most of the SGC troops that are assigned here. It's ridiculous to suggest that he can't handle himself in the field."

"In light of what has happened in the past, and has now happened again, I don't think the word ridiculous applies," Jack snapped. "Daniel Jackson is a world treasure. General Hammond didn't want to let him go off world at all. Now you, in your total experience of, what, six months, you've decided that he no longer needs the protection."

"General O'Neill, what can happen?" Landry started.

O'Neill looked at him in amazement. "Well, if we don't even mention this episode, the first time I left him alone…he wound up married to the village headman's daughter." He looked over at Carter. "Carter, what happened when we left him alone with Shyla?"

"He became addicted to a sarcophagus."

"Teal'c, what happened when we left him alone with Kera?"

"She seduced him and was able to escape."

"And Hathor?"

Carter frowned. "He was…assaulted."

"And Reece?"

"He suffered an injury," Teal'c put in.

"She broke his arm. And Jonas?"

"He...he…" she choked.

"He died!" Jack leaned back and crossed his arms, glaring at the assemblage then centered in on Mitchell. "That's why, ladies and gentlemen. Because he died…again." He held up his finger to stop comments. "Look, I know, I know, it's Daniel. It's just the way he is, but he needs to be watched." He shook his head. "Look, Doctor Jackson is many things. He possesses many good qualities and enough smarts to save the world over and over again. But he has the survival instincts of a lemming!"

"What O'Neill says is true." Teal'c admitted. "Danieljackson does not place adequate value on his own life, though he will go to extremes to save a less worthy individual."

Having made his point, O'Neill looked at Lam. "So, where's he at and what's his status?"

She looked at him in surprise. "Uh, he's in his office…working, I suppose."

Jack looked around at the group in amazement. "What the hell is he doing there…no, wait, why did you call me if he CAN be in his office working. I thought he was in the ICU…or at least the clinic."

Carolyn tilted her head to one side and smiled. "Well, it's sort of an unusual circumstance."

O'Neill glared at the group. "It always is."

General O'Neill entered Daniel's office then stopped short in amazement. He'd been warned, but seeing him with his own eyes was a whole different ball of wax. "Daniel?"

The small boy looked up from the floor where he was sitting surrounded by papers and books. He scrambled to his feet and ran over to his friend. "Jack, you came!"

O'Neill knelt down gingerly until he was eye level with his friend. "Of course I came," He reached out to touch the childlike figure on his shoulder. Daniel then slid into his embrace. "Danny, what did you do?"

"I don't know," the small voice was muffled by his shoulder. "I don't know, I don't remember." The small boy pulled back to look at Jack through his tears. "I didn't mean to do it."

"You never do, Danny, you never do." Jack hugged him, then looked down into the little red face and sighed. "So can you tell me what happened?"

They heard a noise behind them and turned to see Hank Landry standing in the doorway. "That's what we'd all like to know, Jack. How did this happen?"

Daniel pulled back out of the comforting arms of his friend and looked towards the doorway. "I really don't remember much, General," he replied. "I had finished with the main chamber and had gone back to the rear room." He swiped at his damp face. Jack handed him a handkerchief which Daniel accepted gratefully. "I took my video cam and started to record the writing." He looked back at Jack. "It was very interesting. It was a mix of Ancient script and Native American pictographs, but they were about Kukulcan, a Feathered Serpent who was a Mayan god." The boy frowned. "He was their snake god, Jack, but he could fly. Kukulcan was identified with Atlantisas Tehuti, in Egypt as Thoth, and then later to Mesoamerica as Quetzalcoatl. "

Jack looked at him and nodded. "So you think he may have been a Goa'uld?"

Daniel nodded. "Yes and…" he paused thoughtfully. "He may actually have been an early Tok'ra. He was their god of light and was very important in their daily lives. He was one of the few gods that actually opposed the human sacrifice ritual."

Landry was getting that glazed-over look in his eyes. Jack could recognize it from having it himself on several occasions but Landry still managed a question. "But since the Goa'uld are pretty much defeated now, how does this help us?"

The boy looked at him much as if Landry were an errant school boy who wasn't paying attention in class. "He was also associated with Atlantis as Tehuti," he repeated patiently. "He may have been an Ancient. If he was, then this discovery could give us some insights into the Ori also." He glanced at Jack who nodded encouragingly at him. "He was the god of fire and light, which seems to be the medium that the Ori use to communicate with their worshippers. As we all know, I have personal experience with that particular aspect of them."

"When you and Vala had exchanged bodies with the natives on that other planet." Jack nodded.

Daniel looked at him in surprise. "You've read the mission reports?"

O'Neill looked offended. "Hey, I read mission reports; at least I read SG1's mission reports."

"Well, I believe that Kukulcan might have been an ascended Goa'uld, like Anubis was, but he was a good guy and they let him stay. That's probably why Oma agreed to let Anubis do it in the first place."

"So, Anubis fooled Oma," Landry clarified with a shake of his head.

"And she's paying for it now," Jack added. "But, where's Cocopuffs now?"

"I really don't know." Daniel yawned prodigiously. "I'm sorry; I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Well, since this, er, event, occurred yesterday, how much time have you had to sleep?"

The fair face flushed a bright pink. "Well, I wanted to determine…"

"AH!" Jack knelt down by the man-child, silencing 'the boy' with an upraised finger. "Sleep? How much? When last? Total amount?"

"Don't know," Daniel answered honestly. "I…what time is it?"

"1800 hours, and since they called me this morning and I came from DC this afternoon and you got back yesterday, can I safely guess at least twenty four hours?"

Droopy blue eyes blinked up at him. "That long?" He gazed unseeingly around the circle of paperwork and books sprawled with him on the floor.

Jack smiled at the boy encouragingly. "Time flies when you're having fun."

Deeply troubled blue eyes met his. "I'm not having any fun, Jack."

His friend looked at him knowingly. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

Landry looked down at the two. "He slept in the clinic last night."

Jack looked at Daniel. "Did you?"

The child shook his head. "No."

"Why not? You know you're safe here." He glanced at Hank. "I'll bet Teal'c was outside your door all night." The other general nodded.

Daniel looked up at him. "I napped, but I had bad dreams."

"Nightmares?" The boy nodded. Jack rubbed the narrow shoulders through the overlarge scrub shirt that Daniel was wearing. "Want to talk about them?"

"Not here." the small body leaned into Jack's comforting embrace. "Not now."

Jack nodded. "Okay, not now. But how about we get the nice General to get us a room with some beds in it, and maybe some dinner…or lunch, whatever the case may be, for you."

Daniel nodded into Jack's shoulder. Jack would fix it. Jack always fixed it. And now he knew he was really safe.

Landry took the suggestion to heart and immediately left to find Walter and get things in place.

Jack looked down at what appeared to be a sleepy child cuddled in his arms. He sighed. "Daniel?" he said softly. "Come on." He stood slowly, his knees popping in protest.

"I can walk, Jack," the soft voice protested.

"Oh, really?" Jack's voice was a comforting rumble in his ear. "Looks as if you're more likely to fall over."

Daniel laid his head on Jack's shoulder as they left the cluttered office behind. They went down the seven levels from Daniel's office to the VIP quarters where they were met by Chief Harriman who had a key card in his hand. The smaller man led them to room 25R3-06 and unlocked the door. Jack entered still carrying the child in his arms. He lay the boy down on the bed and then looked over his shoulder at Walter. "Thanks, Chief."

Walter nodded at the pair. "I can have a roll away bed brought down from the clinic if you want sir."

"No, don't bother." O'Neill shook his head. "But can you bring us some dinner?"

"Already on its way, Sir," Harriman replied. "I think the dining hall is serving meatloaf tonight."

"Be sure there's pie too, will you?"

Walter smiled. "Of course, sir. There should always be pie." The diminutive NCO pulled the door shut behind him as he left the two of them alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Daniel was completely asleep by now, looking small and vulnerable. Jack smiled at the small form stretched out on the cheap nylon bedspread. He knew by the warm prickly feeling in his eyes that he was close to tears. Why did Daniel have to look so much like Charlie? Was it the dark blond hair, the fair skin or the little round cherub face? The only real difference was that his Charlie had the brown O'Neill eyes, while this kid's peepers were the true blue of Jackson blood. They were the same eyes that Nick Ballard had, the same eyes that had looked back at him from the picture of Claire Jackson in Daniel's office, and now the same eyes that belonged to his best friend, Daniel. Those eyes were now closed in sleep that Daniel had somehow managed to stave off for almost two days.

Jack shook his head at his meanderings and went into the bathroom to relieve himself. After he finished he checked the closet, but other than clothes hangers, there was nothing there. He began to shed his uniform and hang up his service dress. Slipping the coat and tie off began immediately to relax him, but when he pulled the starched shirt off he sighed. He should have remembered to have his suitcase brought in from his rental car, but he could hang out in the white tee shirt and blue pants for a while yet. He wasn't leaving Daniel alone here, even though the room should be quite familiar to the man, if not the boy.

Checking his watch, Jack decided to lay down himself. Jet lag was beginning to catch up to him. He'd been awoken early that morning by Lam's call. She'd been unable to explain the details of Daniel's plight to him over his unsecured phone, so he'd assumed the worst. Visions of his best friend lying in the ICU dying of radiation poisoning had haunted his every move while he made arrangements for his trip and called off his various appointments. The hurried trip to the airport and then the long flight to Colorado had been stuff of his worst nightmares. Everything had gone wrong, from the tickets putting him next to a Canadian business man that had been stopped and checked at every connection, to the sucky little rental car he'd been given at the Colorado Springs airport. And now, now that he'd seen that Daniel was in truth not dying, nor in any danger of doing so for quite awhile, his adrenalin rush had collapsed and he was just about to. All he needed was a dinner of high carbohydrate comfort food, a hot shower, and a change of clothing and he'd be right there next to 'his' kid.

There was a tap on the door to the room and it opened to reveal one SF with a serving cart with their dinner on it and a second airman carrying his suitcase from his vehicle. Jack met them both with a smile of gratitude. "Thanks guys. I really appreciate it." He took the bag from the one. "How did you get it out of the car? It was locked."

The man shrugged his shoulders as he handed the bag over to the General. "Siler," was his only reply.

The two men left him alone with Daniel. Jack crossed over to the bed and grasped the little bare foot. "Daniel, dinner's here. Wakey wakey."

The boy opened his eyes and looked up at him in confusion. "Jack?"

"Yeah."

The frown lines appeared in their proper place between Daniel's eyes as the boy stared at him in disbelief. "Jack…what are you doing here? Why aren't you in Washington DC?"

O'Neill looked at him in amazement, and then he realized what happened. "Daniel," he said slowly. "I came because Doctor Lam called and said you were…that you have a problem."

The blue eyes widened. "'I' have a problem?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded.

"I…my voice? What happened to my voice?"

"Daniel, I don't quite know how to tell you this, but…your voice matches the rest of you."

Suspicion crossed the child's features. "What do you mean?"

Jack sat down on the bed and looked at his best friend. "Daniel, I 'm not sure what happened, but you do have a problem. It seems you were off world with SG1 and you, well, you touched something or said something while you were investigating a temple." Jack put his hand on Daniel's tummy. "Daniel, you've apparently finally found the fountain of youth…and it had an unexpected effect on you."

"What do you mean; it had an effect on me?" Daniel pushed his hand aside and sat up. His face went white and Jack grabbed him by the shoulders. The boy looked up into his friend's worried countenance. "What kind of affect?"

After he was sure that Daniel had recovered his equilibrium, Jack let go of the small frame. "Well, you're a bit shorter than I remember you."

"Shorter?" Daniel looked down for the first time. He brought his hand up to his face, staring at it. "Jack?"

"I'm here Danny, you're safe." Jack said in a low voice. "What do you remember?"

"A dream, it was a dream?" He looked over at his friend's concerned face, then down at his body. "Jack…it was a dream, wasn't it?"

Jack sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Danny. It wasn't a dream. It's true." Jack reached over and took Daniel's small hand in his large one. "Daniel, you look about six years old."

"Jack!" Daniel said in a small low voice. "Jack, what the hell's happened to me?"

"As far as we can figure, when you were alone in the temple something happened. Either an alien device or virus or whatever affected you. You're now thirty four years younger and three feet shorter. Luckily, you've retained your memories and your brains are intact." Jack tried to speak calmly to the stunned little boy. "Now, you have to remember what you did in the temple so Carter, Lee and the other geeks can figure out how to get you back to normal."

Daniel scrunched up his face in concentration. "It must have been something in the back room…"

"Well, that's where they found your clothes so that's where the deed was done," he agreed. "But do you recall what you were doing at the time?"

The small boy shook his head. "No, I'd run out of tape so I was doing a rubbing of some of the script on the wall. It said something about regaining lost time and reliving old experiences…but nothing about a transformation." He closed his eyes and tried to stifle a yawn. "I can't think straight anymore…I'm sorry."

"No problem," Jack said agreeably. He got up and went to the serving cart, pushing it over to the side of the bed. "Look, we've got some of the world famous SGC meatloaf, creamed style corn and rice." He sat down next to his friend. "And look, Walter sent up some pie too."

Daniel looked up at him. "Gee, that's a surprise. Must be some important General around or something."

"Must be," Jack nodded. "Wonder who it is?"

The two of them sat on the side of the bed and started to work on their dinners. Daniel only ate half his adult size portion and finally flopped back on the double mattress. He lay there staring at the ceiling while Jack continued to eat.

When they'd both finished, O'Neill pushed the cart back from the bed and lay back next to Daniel. "Whatcha thinking?'

"Can't," came the sleepy reply. "Too tired." The boy rolled over on his side and gazed at him contentedly. "I can't believe you came."

"You came for me." Jack reached over and stroked the soft hair. "When Ba'al had me."

"Different," the soft voice drawled in exhaustion.

"Not." Jack smiled as the boy drifted off into sleep.

Jack got up and scooched his friend up to the proper position, took off the socks and a pair of children's shorts someone had given Daniel to wear. Then, pulling the covers up over the boy, he went to take a shower.

When he emerged from the bathroom dressed in sweatpants and tee shirt the boy had rolled into the center of the mattress. "Some things never change," O'Neill sighed. He turned off the overhead light, went to the side of the bed closest to the door, folded the covers back and slid in as carefully as he could. The double bed was big enough for both of them but he knew that Daniel would gravitate towards him in the night. Even the adult Daniel had done that when they shared a tent off world. It was just a 'Daniel' thing, probably stemming from his abandonment issues from his childhood. Plumping his pillow, Jack reached over and turned the bed lamp off.

Sure enough, the next morning when a knock on the door woke Jack, he had a small boyish limpet attached to his ribs. Gently disengaging himself from the child's grip he rolled out of the bed and shuffled over to the door.

When he opened it, he found Chief Harriman standing there behind another food service cart. "Walter," Jack said sleepily in a soft voice to avoid waking the child, "what time is it?"

"It's 0700 hrs, sir. General Landry would like to see you at your convenience."

"Yeah, I just bet he would." Jack rubbed his hand over his face, stifling a yawn. He lifted the lid from one of the covered dishes. "Hum, pancakes."

"I took the liberty of ordering for you, sir." Walter released the cart to Jack. "I hope its okay."

"Its fine, Walter, just fine, thanks. And tell Siler I appreciate him getting my bag for me." At the NCO's nod, he grinned at him. "Looks like I'll be staying a few days until we get this sorted out."

"Yes, sir." Walter looked at him expectantly. "And General Landry?"

"Tell him I'll be there shortly." He glanced back at the bed with its small lump in the middle of the blankets. "Well, as shortly as possible."

Walter smiled briefly. "We're glad you could come, sir, for Doctor Jackson." Then he turned and left at Jack's nod.

O'Neill watched as the NCO disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the morning crowd, and then pushed the cart into the room. He went back over to the side of the bed and gently shook his sleeping friend. "Daniel. C'mon buddy; it's time to get up."

The blue eyes opened and blinked at him. "Jack?" Then Daniel looked down at his hands. "Damn, it wasn't a dream."

Jack looked down at him sadly. "Nope, not a dream."

Daniel sat up and looked around the room then more closely at his friend. "I can't believe this is happening to me." He shook his head. "I really don't think I deserve this."

O'Neill had to chuckle at the disgusted expression on the cherubic face. "I gotta say Daniel, this time I agree with you."

As Jack set the breakfast up for them, Daniel crawled out of the bed and headed off to the bathroom. After a few minutes, Daniel called back out to the room. "Jack, can you come here a moment?"

"Sure," he crossed over to the small lavatory. "What's up?"

His friend was standing naked in the shower stall looking frustrated. "Can you please turn on the water? I can't reach the faucet."

"Sure, ki…Danny. Why don't you step out so that I can get the temperature right?"

Flushing a shade of dark pink from his forehead to his toes, the small boy did so. "This is so embarrassing."

Jack had tactically turned his back as he adjusted the knobs for water pressure and temperature. "Why? I've seen you naked before."

"Yeah," the pensive answer came. "But you've never seen me THIS naked."

He turned around and looked at Daniel's small, totally hairless body. "Well," he commented gently. "I've never seen you at six either."

Big blue eyes looked up at him. "But, I'm uh, six all over." He waved as small hand down towards his undeveloped groin area.

"Well, of course you are." He had an urge to ruffle the blond head of hair. "You'd be kind of…unbalanced…if you weren't."

Daniel scowled. "I guess you're right. I'm lucky I can reach the toilet."

"Well, after your shower and our breakfast, I have to go see Hank. I'm thinking you should probably go back to your office and try to figure out what you did on the planet to cause this."

"Yes, hopefully I'll be able to operate my lab equipment." The boy grouched. "I'll have to draft someone to help me reach my research books on Meso-American studies."

"Oh, I'm sure Teal'c would be happy to lend a hand and about four feet of height to you today." Jack grinned at him. "He's gotten a good night's sleep and I know he won't let anything or anyone happen to you." Jack sat the furnished bottle of shampoo and bar of soap down on the floor of the shower stall. "I've noticed he's gotten a little protective of you since I've been gone."

"Yes," Daniel tilted his head, "I wonder where he gets that from?"

"Hum, yeah, I wonder where. Not from me certainly." Jack stepped back to let him get into the shower stall. "Is the water too hot? I can turn it down if it is."

"No, Jack. Thanks, its fine." Daniel pulled the shower curtain shut. "Yes, Jack. I wonder."

Jack left Daniel under the watchful eye of Teal'c. The big guy was happy to ba…archaeologist sit for him while he went to visit Hank Landry.

Daniel was hurriedly flipping through some ancient looking journals that he'd identified as belonging to Nick Ballard and already muttering about Bimini, Ponce Deleon and long lost fountains.

As O'Neill walked down the hallways, he was surprised at the number of new faces that nodded formally to him. They had all been assigned after his tenure as the commander of the SGC. He'd only been gone a year, but it seemed forever to him, just like a dream of sorts. If he ever did try to write his memoirs of his years here no one would ever believe him. They'd be relegated to the shelves of science fiction and high fantasy right next to Burroughs, Heinlein, and Tolkein.

Siler hurried past him, nodding affably and carrying his wrench. He saw Walter scurrying across his path as he approached an intersecting hallway. Jack also saw a few ghosts still in residence. A small female in a white coat striding purposefully down the thoroughfare turned into Janet for a blink of an eye before he realized that she was just an un-named med-tech. And he swore he glimpsed Rothman in the form of a civilian scientist hurrying past him. He closed his eyes and shook his head as he entered the command center.

Landry was waiting for him with a pot of hot coffee, a plate of donuts, and a sheaf of paperwork. "Jack!" Hank stood up when he entered the room. "How's Daniel this morning?"

O'Neill grimaced and headed for the food. "He's still short, if that's what you mean," he groused into his cup. "I left him with Teal'c, hip deep in books and old papers. He thinks that there might be something in Nick's journals that could help since the old fogy studied these people for seventy years."

"Nick?" Hank sat back down at his desk and looked at him curiously. "Who's Nick?"

Jack looked at him in surprise. "Nicholas Ballard, great archaeologist not so great grandfather to Daniel. When his daughter and son-in-law died in 1973 he abandoned his only living relative to the New York Social System."

Hank choked on his own hot coffee. "What?"

"You heard me." Jack shoved a donut in his mouth to keep his mouth shut and any opinions he had of the man to himself.

"What a bastard!"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, evidently raising an 8 year old boy was too much of an imposition on the old fart."

"So where is he now?"

"Giant aliens got him, on P7X-377," he replied grimly. "And they can keep the old coot."

Landry shook his head. "No wonder you're listed as his next of kin."

Jack looked at him steadily. "I am his next of kin."

Landry looked at him steadily. "Yes, yes, I suppose you are. And George is next in line?"

"Yep."

Hank shuffled his pile of papers. "Well, so what's Daniel's plan?"

"Beats me," O'Neill replied. "Like I said, Daniel thinks that Nick might have something in his notes on the fountain of youth. Evidently it was here on Earth at one time. Native Americans told the Spaniards about it in Bimini…"

"I thought it was in Florida?"

Jack shrugged. "Daniel says Bimini, and he's always right about these things. Evidently, old Ponce was lost. But anyway, for a while we thought it was in Honduras and sent Daniel and Lee after it, but all we got was some bruised archaeologists and another Goa'uld device, sort of an I-pod version of a sarcophagus. Evidently what Daniel found on this planet is the real deal." Jack smiled gently thinking of his friend. "Hence the shortness."

The other general nodded at the black phone on his desk. "Well, I have to tell you as my boss, I'm beginning to feel a little heat from certain quarters."

"Heat?"

"Well, it seems that word has gotten out about Doctor Jackson's transformation." Hank looked at him seriously. "It seems inquiring minds want to know how, when, and why."

"Yeah, there are at least seven of them here, including Carolyn I assume." Jack nodded understanding the subtext of what Hank was not saying.

"Well, yes, but the others are demanding their time with him also. The NID is still alive and kicking Jack, but it's the legal arm at Area 51. They want to study the effects that Doctor Jackson underwent. They want to…"

"No! Damn it, just no! That man has been studied and interviewed and fluoroscoped until he's glowed...again." Jack growled. "Can't they just get used to the idea that Daniel Jackson is different? He's been sarcaphagused, irradiated, and reborn. What's one more miracle, for crying out loud? Tell them to put on their big girl panties and deal with it!"

Landry looked taken aback at his outburst. "Don't you think…?"

"NO! NO, I don't think. If your daughter, Carter, Teal'c and Daniel can't figure it out, it won't get figured." Jack slumped into the chair facing Landry's desk. "We need to protect him."

"No one would hurt Doctor Jackson."

"Not here, but there are others who would…take advantage," Jack said slowly. He indicated the red phone. "Can I use your phone?"

Hank nodded. Jack reached over and punched in seven digits from memory. He waited a minute and then spoke into the receiver.

"Hi, President Hayes? Yes sir, O'Neill here. Had your breakfast yet? Good. Doctor Jackson is, well, he's alive and has all his marbles. Hum, yes sir, that's what I'm calling about." He looked at Landry. "Well, the problem is his brain is forty, but right now he looks like a six year old. No, he's fine, just a lot shorter. He's working on it…with Carter. Yep. Cool. Okay, I'll keep you informed. So, if you can keep them out of the SGC and off his back … Gottcha. Yes, sir. I'll let him know. Thanks sir, and say hi your wife for me." Jack hung up the phone. "That should give us another day at least."

"You just called the President's private number?" Landry was obviously impressed.

"Yeah, he likes to fly fish. I keep telling him to use spinning tackle." Jack shrugged. "Hey, he's a nice guy. He served in Nam with George…and he did get rid of Kinsey for us." He smiled at Hank. "So, how's the budget going for next year?"


	4. Chapter 4

After his conference with Landry, Jack returned to Daniel's office. There he found Cameron Mitchell standing on a wheeled office chair reaching for a book on the top shelf. Jack remained quiet until the younger man stepped safely back down to the floor. He entered the room shaking his head.

Daniel looked up from where he was sitting on the floor surrounded by paper, books, laptop computer, and video tape viewer. He smiled at his friend. "Jack!"

Mitchell turned to see him enter scowling. "Hey, I was just getting a book for Jackson."

"In the most dangerous way possible," Jack groused. "What a surprise."

"What? I'm fine."

"Yep, this time." He knelt down next to where little Daniel was sitting. The youngster was back to peering into a video viewer. "How ya doing, buddy?"

"Trying to remember what inscription I came into contact with," came the absent reply. "I think it was this one here." He pointed to a spot on the wall.

"Latin?"

"Ancient," Daniel confirmed. "I told you that…"

"Yeah, Cocopuffs might have been an Ancient Tok'ra." Jack nodded. "I remember."

The child looked up impressed with his friend. "Well, a Tok'ra that was an Ancient any way. What did General Landry want?"

"Oh, usual stuff. NID wants you to fess up the secrets of the universe to them, Area 52 wants to dissect you, and the President likes you so we're good…for right now anyways."

"Oh, that." Daniel looked back at his camera apparently unconcerned with the threats to his well being. "Tell them I'll turn them into a newt if they try anything funny."

"Turn them into a newt?" Mitchell looked aghast at his team member. "Can you do that?"

Jackson didn't even look up. "Of course not, but they don't know that."

Someone tapped on the open door. They looked up to see Bill Lee holding a large bulky manila folder in his hands. "Daniel, I found the specs on the device we found in Honduras. Sam will be down shortly with the down loaded pictures so we can compare the inscriptions."

"Good." Jack shook his head. "Sometimes I wish we hadn't given that thing to the Tok'ra. We'll never see it again now."

"Well, it was too dangerous to keep here on Earth with the Trust still on the loose," Daniel murmured. "All we need are more reconstituted bad guys."

"Teal'c would probably enjoy it, but I see your point."

Mitchell looked at O'Neill curiously. "Teal'c would enjoy it?"

"He's big into the Jaffa revenge thing," Jack commented as he took the folder from Lee and began to flip through it absently. "He wanted to us to bring the dead guy back with us so he could reanimate him and take him apart for torturing Daniel with the car battery."

"What?" Mitchell looked shocked at the idea.

Jack looked at the pilot. "He's fond of Daniel here and wanted to do some dissecting of his own when he got a look at our favorite archaeologist. He hates it when Danny gets hurt, takes it as a personal affront." He looked at Bill. "Where are the pictures of the thing?"

Lee frowned at the folder. "I thought they were in there. I'll go see if I can locate them." He nodded down at Daniel. "Call if you need me."

"Okay, thanks Bill." Daniel paused the video tape and was staring intently at the picture. "Jack, look at this and tell me what you think.

Jack knelt down and looked at the screen closer. "It keeps using this phrase over and over again. What does it mean?"

"That's the one I was talking about, Jack. It says 'to relive or re-experience a time in your life to come to grips with the memories'."

"So you're supposed to get a do-over out of this? How does that work?"

Daniel shook his head and looked perplexed. "I don't get it. Carolyn says I'm six. This is, or was, the happiest period of my life. I was with my parents in Egypt. Nothing bad happened until I was eight."

Mitchell looked down at him. "Something bad happened?"

"Little bit," Daniel replied non-committally, not wanting to talk about his past at this point in time. Jack caught Mitchell's eye and shook his head. The Colonel got the point and changed the subject. "So, what do you think it does mean?"

"I'm not sure; I need to do some research into Nick's journals." He looked up at the walls and scanned the huge quantity of volumes quickly. "You see those old looking red leather ones? I need number six."

Mitchell started towards the chair, but Jack stood up and grabbed the younger man's arm. Then he pointed to a short stepladder in the corner. Mitchell looked confused until the General said in a firm voice. "Use the ladder. I hate cleaning blood up off the concrete when you fall and crack your skull." As Cameron obediently drug the other piece of furniture over, Jack glanced down at Daniel. The man child shrugged. Jack just shook his head. "I'm going to go do a quick walk around and justify my trip here with an unscheduled walk through," he commented. "I hear Selma has pie. I need to inspect all the ingredients for freshness."

Daniel smiled up at his long time friend. "Well, she'll either run you out of her kitchen with a ladle, or she'll take your order for the caramel apple crumb you like so much."

"I'm hoping it's the second choice." Jack headed out the door, "I'll meet you there for lunch, okay?"

The boy nodded absently as he began to spread the papers out from the folder Bill Lee had brought with him.

Later that afternoon, Jack reappeared in the cluttered office. He was carrying a covered tray. He nodded to Mitchell who took the hint and headed out the door.

Daniel watched the byplay silently, peering over the too large frames of his glasses. "You do that very well," he commented.

Jack sat the tray on the desk and pulled the cover off the food items, revealing a pie and some plates and silverware. "Do what?"

"Get rid of people." The youngster got easily to his feet and then climbed up into the chair next to where Jack had settled on the stool. "You seem to have developed the knack."

As he served the pieces of pie to their plates, O'Neill only shrugged. "If you don't, you never get any work done where I'm at. There's always someone who wants something; whether it's your time, your attention or your support. It's a real pain in the ass."

"So Washington is not a perfect place? You knew that when you accepted the assignment." The boy accepted the plate from his friend.

"Yeah," Jack nodded with a sigh. "I had just hoped that there would be some one with real deal meaning of life stuff there." He perched on the stool holding his own piece of pastry. "But what I'm getting is more the, 'Can my company build your MALPs and FREDs' cause we did you a favor?' and 'Gee, General O'Neill, can you get them to escort my nephew through the wormhole to help with his science project?'

Daniel snorted up some crumbs as he tried not to giggle. "No! Not really?"

"Oh yes really. And it amazes me that everyone thinks the end all and be all of the program is now Atlantis." Jack nodded morosely. "Weir and Sheppard are the new conquering heroes of the universe, even though their attrition rate is higher than ours ever was. I'm having to fight to keep you all supplied with toilet paper and fuses, much less weapons and ammunition." He looked at Daniel. "We're too boring for words right now; I almost wish what's her name would come back so I can sic her on the money counters."

"Vala?"

"Yeah." He chewed the caramel apple pastry then grinned. "I saw the tapes of your conference with the committee. She had them going big time. I think I might like her."

Daniel shook his head. "I think she'd drive you crazy."

"You drive me crazy, I like you."

"I grew on you…like a wart." Danny giggled again. "You told me that one time. I think I was insulted."

"Okay, so you were an acquired taste, but…the foundations are still strong."

"I miss you, Jack."

"I know, I miss you too." O'Neill nodded and put the plate down. "Want to come to DC and work for me there?"

"Doing what?" The boy looked at him seriously. "Being your yes-man? Giving tours at the Smithsonian?"

"Kind of, well, not the yes man part, but being the PR guy. Helping me represent Stargate Command to the civilian types the same way that I do it to the military." Jack shook his head. "They don't get it, Daniel. They either think that the gate is a Disney ride to Never Never Land or the road to perdition. Kinsey was not the only religious nut in the can that sees it as the doorway to hell. And the Ori are just what they need to push it over the edge."

Danny sat his plate up on the desk carefully. He looked at Jack. "I'm needed here, Jack. Hell, I'm needed in Atlantis. I can feel it. There's still so much out there that we don't know…and I really want to learn all about that meaning of life stuff."

O'Neill sighed and reached over to place his hand on Daniel's knee. "I know." Then he looked pointedly at his best friend. "But right now, Danny, I gotta tell you. You can't go like this."

"I know that," he groused back. "This…this is ridiculous." Daniel waved his arms around. "This is useless."

"Hey, I thought that you figured out that you were supposed to relive your life?"

"That's what it translates as, but what does it mean?"

"Well, as I remember you had a childhood that sucked big time. Maybe someone wants you to enjoy life now."

"Enjoy life?"

"Yeah, you know, smell some flowers, play in the mud, have a happy childhood."

Daniel looked at him oddly. "I'm allergic to flowers and I play in the mud all the time. I don't think that's it."

"Okay, then, how about being a kid with a dog and a picket fence."

"Where would I live? I still don't have any parents or family…" He looked at Jack with widened eyes. "You?"

The general shrugged. "It's just a thought…probably a bad one."

"No, Jack." The blue eyes looked at him in grateful acceptance. "I think it's pretty good actually."

Jack smiled. "I think we could make it work just fine."

AT 1345 hours, Jack showed up at Daniel's office door with a large brown paper bag and a frown. Daniel and Nyan were sitting on the floor. The pile of paper had grown exponentially, partially burying the two archaeologists like an excavation of paper.

"Daniel, I thought you were going to meet me for lunch." He stated unequivocally.

The small boy looked up at him and pulled the pencil out from between his teeth. "Hi Jack. We think we've got something here. Look. This pictogram…"

"No." The general replied calmly. "Daniel, come here."

"What?" The two scientists looked up at him. Daniel's expression was one of surprise, Nyan appeared aghast. No one talked to Daniel that way, or at least they hadn't in a very long time…at least since Jack left.

"Daniel, it's almost two o'clock in the afternoon. You were supposed to meet me at eleven." To Daniel Jack seemed even taller than normal from his seat on the floor, not to mention he was barely four feet tall.

"Jack…"

"No, Daniel." O'Neill was implacable, "you're coming with me…now. Nyan, go get yourself something to eat."

The Bedrosian got up from where he was sitting on the floor and crept out past the General. Daniel was looking up at him with a mix between anger and a pout. "You know, I never have these problems when your not here." The boy snarled up at him.

"That's because neither Hank nor Carolyn have found you passed out on the floor from starvation and overwork and you intimidate the hell out of Mitchell." Jack shook his head. "You do know where I got all these grey hairs from, right?"

Daniel scowled as he climbed to his feet. "So you say," he replied dryly. "I think it was more from being aged, killed, frozen, zatted and staff blasted, not to mention having the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into your brain not once but twice. I know watching it was where I got mine."

Jack looked down at the fair haired head that came up to his belt buckle. "I don't see it from where I'm standing." He reached a hand out and ruffled the long, soft strands. "C'mon, I brought lunch."

"Jack, I have work to do…"

"There's pie." O'Neill replied softly. "French silk for you and cinnamon apple for me," he smiled. "not to mention the magic meatloaf."

"Okay, don't mention it." Daniel had to smile at the wheedling tone.

Jack's heart skipped a beat at the boy. Why did he have to look so…so Danielesque? Mel must have had hell with him as a toddler and Nick was a rat-bastard. "Let's do a picnic. Sun, fresh air and green grass, just what a growing boy needs."

Daniel looked at him in confusion. "Where's that?"

O'Neill pointed up with a finger. "Topside, kiddo, topside. I know just the place."

%%%%%

Several hours later, Jack nudged the small form sleeping next to him in their shady nest of soft grasses. "Hey," he whispered. "Hey c'mon. Wakey, wakey."

The small boy lying next to him rolled over on his side and buried his face in Jack's now rumpled uniform shirt. The stiff starch had long disappeared along with the General's military bearing.

Jack ran his hand through the long blond locks. "Danny, it's almost five. Hank and Carolyn probably have the Green Berets, the Air Borne Rangers, Special Forces and the Seals looking for us."

"No Seals here. No water." The sleepy voice mumbled into his pocket as the small arm slipped across the adult's chest. "missed you Jack."

"I missed you too, Danny." Jack sighed. "Now, come on and wake up. I don't think I can carry you down the mountain."

The blue eyes finally opened in confusion. "Mountain?" He was asked. "What are we doing here?"

"We came up to get some fresh air and have a picnic. Then you decided to take a nap."

"Nap? What time is it?" Daniel sat up and looked around.

"It's about dinner time now." Jack smiled at his little buddy. "Do you want to go and see if there's any magic meatloaf left?"

"No!" The child's face was pouting. "I have to go back to work. Jack, why did you make me fall asleep?"

"Me? As if I could ever make you do anything. No Daniel I think it was your body that was just too tired for words." He nodded and got to his feet then helped the small person at his side up. "But if you want to go in now, I guess we can."

Danny struggled up and wiped the sleep from his eyes. "Yes, please. I need to get back to work."

"Dinner first, and then bed." Jack grinned at him. "Let's go."

"Jaack, I have to work." Daniel sat up and rubbed sleepy eyes looking totally huggable. "I don't want to stay like this." He whined.

O'Neill chuckled. "Okay, you can work until you doze off, then I'm carrying you to the room."

The lower lip disagreed, but the sleepy eyes knew he was right.


	5. Chapter 5

The two friends were walking down the hallway towards their temporary quarters. Daniel was into childish cranky mode and wasn't letting his friend forget it. He had spent two long tiring days of reading and re-reading Nick's notes and journals trying to make some sense of his ordeal. Then Jack had waylaid him into the disastrous picnic. Now he was dragging his small friend to their shared room to clean up before they headed for the dining hall.

As they left the elevator Daniel's footsteps began to falter. Jack looked down at him with concern and then the small body bent over clutching his abdomen with a moan. "Ja-a-a-ck," he gasped.

O'Neill immediately squatted down next to his friend. "Daniel? Danny, what's wrong?"

The small boy fell to the hard concrete floor writhing in agony. "Jak…can't breathe," he managed to gasp.

Jack grabbed him by the shoulders, slipped his arms under the convulsing body, and lifted the stricken child to his chest. "Danny! Hang on buddy, I've got you. I've got you." Jack struggled to his feet and started running to the elevator a short distance away. "HOLD THAT CAR!"

The two young officers were already in the elevator both shoved their hands against the elevator doors and stepped back as he came barreling in. "Infirmary!" O'Neill snapped. The Captain slid his card through the mechanism and hit the button for the 25 floor.

When the doors reopened, the Lieutenant led the way, running point, yelling for a medic and pushing past the startled personnel that cluttered the hallways. Finally, the small group skidded into the infirmary.

Doctor Lam had heard the shouting and was in position in the emergency area. As Jack approached her, she pointed to the already waiting gurney. When Daniel was placed on the table he immediately curled up into a tiny ball of misery crying out through gritted teeth as she began to examine him. Carolyn tried to straighten his body to have better access but she didn't have the strength to fight the muscle spasms that were gripping the small body.

Jack tried to help, clasping the slender shoulders and pressing them down so she could examine him. Daniel's voice rose in a keening cry of pain. "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO HIM?" He shouted at her over Daniel's agonized cries.

"I don't know!" Carolyn replied, motioning for a nurse to assist. "When did this start?"

"About five minutes ago; just long enough to get him down here." Jack looked at her with fear in his eyes. "Do you…?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't know what's wrong. What did he eat for dinner?"

"We haven't had dinner yet," Jack said looking down at the two small fists that were still wrapped around his fatigue sleeves. "We were headed to the room to clean up when he collapsed in the hall."

Lam pulled her flashlight out of her coat pocket and began to try to check the boy's pupil dilation, but she couldn't get his eyes open. "Daniel, Doctor Jackson, look at me."

If anything the small body convulsed into a tinier mass and a bone-deep groan emanated from him.

Jack wanted to pick up the small frail body and press him into his chest until the pain stopped, but he could only stand there and watch helplessly as the muscles and tendons of the child tightened and flexed. Then he saw it begin to happen. "Doctor Lam, look."

Caroline turned to the General. "What?"

"No, not me…look at him!" O'Neill insisted.

As they watched in shock, the child's body again began to convulse and writhe in pain. The small mass shook and seethed, rocked and flexed and then slowly began to alter, growing larger before their very eyes. The whimpers changed to moans then escalated to keening agony.

Jack watched in horror as the very shape of Daniel's extremities changed. At first, the delicate bones seemed to elongate, then try to burst from the fragile skin covering them. As the changes occurred, the very tendons appeared to snap and pop, almost seeming to dislocate themselves then realign.

"What's he doing?" Jack asked in horror.

"I don't know…it's as if…he's…" Carolyn hesitated, mystified.

"Like he's growing!"

"Jack! Oh, God, Jack!" Daniel cried out, arching up into his friend's hands as the convulsions shook his body.

O'Neill bent down over the pulsating body. "Danny…tell me…what can I do?" He pleaded. He saw in shock that his friend's facial features were as malformed as the rest of the struggling body.

"JAAACCCCKKKKEEEEE!"

"Oh, fuck! Daniel!" O'Neill wanted to grab him and hold him but Lam stopped him before he could. The familiar blue eyes in the pale misshapen face with its morphing features looked up at him. "JJAAAAHHHHHH!"

O'Neill finally jerked loose from the small doctor and he pulled the straining form against him, trying desperately to give some comfort. He could literally feel the physical metamorphosis continue against his chest.

Lam was flatly staring in amazement as the fluctuations continued. The small body was now quickly growing in both size and mass. The small sized clothing split along the seams as tissues oscillated and changed. What had once been a three-foot tall child of sixty pounds was rapidly changing back to a good sized, well-built man of six feet and two hundred pounds. The childish facial features bulged, and then twisted at the radical changes as the delicate features continued to reconstruct themselves. The small hands gripping Jack's uniform splayed and fingers clubbed, elongated, and knotted into talons then changed back into digits. Nails grew into claws that quickly receded. Bloodied bones split through fragile skin to be just as rapidly recovered with flesh and skin.

Lam, realizing what was happening, grabbed a pair of medical scissors and cut through the remaining cotton scrubs that little Daniel had been wearing. Jack continued to try to hold his friend's tortured body on the gurney as they fought the seizures that wracked the younger man. Blood covered all three of them as it seeped from bitten lips, split epidermis, and from O'Neill's and Lam's scratched and lacerated hands from wounds received from their struggling patient.

Finally, as if in one final rictus of agony, the now adult sized body arched up with bone snapping strength, tearing free from his friend's grasp; then collapsed back onto the hospital gurney completely limp and unresponsive.

Caroline quickly leaped onto the patient and was calling for help from the medical team that had gathered around the suffering that Daniel had displayed. "There's no pulse!" She shouted. "Crash cart, now!"

Jack still had hold of his friend's hands. They had been fever hot before and gripping his with painful strength, but now they were limp and boneless in his grasp. He bent over the still form. "Daniel! Daniel! Listen to me! Danny!"

Suddenly he felt strong hands, pull him back as he looked up to see Lam holding two paddles to a defibrillator. He heard her voice as she shouted, "CLEAR!" and applied the machine to Daniel's naked chest.

Again, the body arched up away from the bed, this time in response to the electronic stimulation. The doctor stepped back, then began to ready the paddles for a second use when, suddenly, Daniel took in a deep gasping breath.

Lam immediately handed off the equipment and started to do a quick once over of the patient. Jack could only wait and watch her do her job and realized only peripherally that it was Hank Landry who had hold of him.

"Well?" Landry demanded of Carolyn, asking what Jack could not bear to.

O'Neill could only stare at the petite dark haired doctor, awaiting her pronouncement.

Finally, she looked over at the two men and nodded. "He's stable…and he…he's apparently regained his normal size."

Landry released his old friend and O'Neill returned to the bedside. "Daniel? Danny, can you hear me?'

"J...AA...k?" The pale face lolled to one side, blue eyes at half-mast looking around for the source of the question.

"I'm here Daniel." Jack touched the cool cheek and turned his friend's face to look in his general direction.

"Jaak, wt hpnd?"

For a moment O'Neill was unable to answer; then he said simply, "You grew."

A nurse handed Carolyn a wet cloth and the doctor began to gently wipe the bloodied, bitten lips as she inspected him for further damage.

"You grew like Gingee in Shrek." Jack talked to the shocked patient as the physician continued her assessment. "Scared the shit out of me again. I think I'm headed for total Hammonditis with you."

"Wha..?"

"Daniel, you've already turned me gray. I think I'm headed for bald now."

"Doctor Jackson," Carolyn frowned up at O'Neill then turned to her patient. "Doctor Jackson, how do you feel?"

Her patient blinked up at her. "Hurt…tired." He looked up at Jack's face. "Tired."

O'Neill patted him gently on the hand. "Gee. Imagine that." Daniel winced at the soft contact.

"General, please, could you give me some time with Doctor Jackson? I need to examine him and make sure everything is…"

"Normal?" Jack asked in a suddenly exhausted voice. "It's not. It never is. But then, it's not abnormal either." He looked down at Daniel who grimaced and tried to smile back at him. "It's just kind of unnormally normal for him." Jack looked over at Landry who was standing watching the byplay. "I did warn you about him, you know."

Hank nodded. "Yes. Yes you did."

"You did?" Carolyn was looking at the two Generals. "Why didn't someone warn *me* about him?"

"You probably won't go grey…or bald." Jack replied easily. "Hank will probably do both."

##########

Jack was seated at the bedside of the now full sized Daniel Jackson. He was exhausted, having suffered through the unexpected trip to Colorado, the shock of seeing his best friend changed into a child and now the stress of watching him turn back into his adult self. Jack was determined that he would remain there until Daniel woke up.

Carolyn had been in and out all night too, taking vitals and generally hovering. Jack would smile tiredly and move out of her way. Here was another child that he'd watched grow up from a tiny, exquisite girl into the forceful doctor that now was in charge of the SGC clinic. He felt old.

She stopped next to him. "General, he should be okay. All my test results have returned normal. He's just exhausted…as are you." She eyed him with concern. "You should really rest for a while."

"Yeah, well, I'll rest…when I'm sure."

She smiled at him in understanding and nodded at the nurse's station. "You know where the coffee pot is."

Jack was still sitting at Daniel's bedside when the man began to wake up. First came the movement of the arms, then the head tossing. The soft moans came quickly, and then the blue eyes began to move under the long lashes predicating the opening of the baby blues.

He leaned over and took the nearest hand in his. "Daniel?"

Finally, the eyes fluttered open to peer at him myopically. "Jack?"

"Yeah, buddy. Right here. How do you feel?"

"Sore." From years of practice, Jack could see the thoughts begin to run through the facile mind. "Had the strangest dream…"

He had to smile down at his friend. "No dream, Daniel. More of a nightmare…for both of us.

########

They were gathered in the General's briefing room. SG1 was there looking shell shocked, the two Generals trying to appear calm, and Carolyn Lam was staring at her patient as if she held him personally responsible for the whole fiasco. Daniel was there also, looking very tired.

The physical transformation had completed itself that morning. The young man had continued to age to his correct life stage throughout the night finally finishing in the early hours. Daniel Jackson had once again beaten the odds and survived intact if not completely unscathed. He appeared to be completely exhausted, the infamous blue eyes blood-shot and bleary and he had a tendency to yawn at inopportune moments.

When they were all assembled, Landry indicated that the briefing should commence by clearing his throat. "Doctor Jackson, what do you have for us?"

Daniel looked around the room knowing that the blame for this particular adventure rested solely on his shoulders. "Well," he started, "as best I can translate the glyphs, the hall was a ceremonial chamber. When a warrior did something outstanding to earn a reward he was taken to the room and given a chance to relive his favorite years over again for a period of three days. During that time he was feted, coddled and allowed to enjoy childhood, teen years or whatever period it was."

Sam smiled at her teammate. "He was allowed to play."

He nodded at her understanding. "Exactly."

Landry looked at him with interest. "Your favorite year was when you were six years old?"

Daniel smiled a sad smile. "Seven actually, I was in Egypt with my parents. They had been funded by a museum to excavate an ancient temple. Life was exciting, the work was interesting and I was old enough for my father to take me to the dig with him." He smiled softly at the memory. "I found my first real treasure. It was a little figurine of Bastet, the cat goddess. I remember how proud they both were of me. The whole camp celebrated my great discovery." He sighed. "After that, well, everything got very busy. They worked very hard and finally got the artifacts packed and shipped to the United States the next year. They never got to see the rewards of their labors." He raised his head and looked at Jack. "They died that next spring."

His friend reached across the distance between them and touched his hand. "I'm sorry, Danny."

Daniel looked around the table. "It's all history now. Unfortunately I touched the wrong icon and was rewarded by the temple machinery."

Jack smiled at him. "Gee, what a surprise."

"So this was a reward?" Mitchell demanded disbelievingly. "This was supposed to be fun?"

"Yes, proving once again that one man's treasure is another man's trash." Jackson nodded. "I'm sorry to have caused such a problem."

Caroline Lam frowned at him. "Do you do this often?"

The old SG1 just looked at each other. Daniel ducked his head with a little grin. "Well…"

O'Neill chuckled. "Well, I had brown hair when I met him."

Mitchell reached up to his hair. "Really?"

%%%%%%%

Daniel was helping Jack pack up his clothing for the return trip back to Washington D.C.

"So, you thinking about that job offer Daniel?" O'Neill folded his fatigue uniform and placed it back in the suitcase.

The younger man was wiping down his low quarter shoes. "Oh, is it still open?"

"Absolutely." Jack enthused as he forced his combat boots into the small space remaining. "You'd be a knock out with the society crowd. You could sweet talk all the wives while I schmooze with the big wigs. We would be an unbeatable team." He lowered the lid and sat on the case so he could snap the fasteners closed. "Just like old times, only this time instead of Goulds, it would be politicians and other big wigs…and you wouldn't have to kill anybody."

"Thanks for the offer Jack and I'll definitely keep it in mind, but I'm not quite ready to give up on the Stargate yet," he looked sideways at his old friend. "Or Atlantis."

O'Neill stood up and put the suitcase on the floor. "Smithsonian," he tempted in asingsong voice, "cherry trees, rush hour traffic, all the madness you can think of all wrapped up in one spot and you never even have to leave Earth." He sat back down and took his shoes from Daniel.

"Not yet." The younger man shook his head.

Jack sighed and stood up. His knee popped in emphasis. "Well, okay, but the offer's good whenever you want it."

Daniel bent and picked up the suitcase. "I'll walk you up."

"Thanks, Danny." O'Neill slung his blue general's coat over his shoulder and picked up his flight cap with the two stars on it.

As they walked out the door the sound of klaxons started and they could hear the sound of chevrons snapping into place. The loudspeaker was blaring, "Unauthorized Off world Activation."

They paused in the hall, watching personnel run to their various posts in response to the Stargate's opening. Jack looked back down the hall longingly then he smiled at Daniel. "There's no place like home, Danny. There's no place like home."


End file.
